Happy Friday.
The Royals open a weird four game set in Boston this weekend. What a glorious train wreck the Red Sox are this summer.
Pressed for time this morning so just a couple of random observations after the jump...
-- In the five games since Chris Getz broke his thumb (and the Season of Yost) his replacement, Johnny Giavotella, has collected three hits in 18 at bats. All three hits have been singles. He's also added five strikeouts and failed to take a walk. None of this is good. (Except the absence of walks. I'm sure the Royals view this as a positive.)
I don't think it's any secret the pressure is on Giavotella to produce. And to produce quickly. Yes, five games is the almost the ultimate in small sample sizes, but when the club seems to be looking for reasons not to play Gio, it would behoove him to at least show a little bit of a bat. Go down connecting, you know.
What's happening now is we're setting ourselves up for the Return of Getz. He's making a shade under a million this year and will be eligible for arbitration for the second time this off season. Meaning he's due for a bit of a pay raise. Nothing to break the bank, mind you. Just something to keep in mind going forward. Because if you think he's a non-tender candidate, I think you're nuts. In order to position himself as the second baseman of the future, Gio has to play out of his mind over the last few weeks. The slow start may not matter if he finishes strong. But if he doesn't get scorching hot, look for the Royals to hand the starting second base job to Getz for 2013.
I think this is going to happen.
-- I understand the current disgust directed toward Eric Hosmer. Should the Royals send him to the minors? Should he be benched? Does he need a Lasik retouch? What exactly is going on with this guy?
This has been a long, painful season watching Hosmer play. For every time he's on a pitch and driving it to the opposite field where we think he's close to getting on track, he's rolling his wrists and grounding weakly to second. The guy his five home runs in April and just six in May, June, July and the first three plus weeks in August.
Obviously, with the season winding down the minors aren't an option. I understand the anger directed toward the team in this situation. The Royals have underachieved and Hosmer is the poster boy. Given the fact he performed - and performed well - in his age 21 season, I'm not sure the Royals did anything wrong in their handling of Hosmer. That's probably not a popular opinion, but I just can't come up with something that could have worked as a possible solution.
Still waiting to see some defensive improvement, though.